Appalachia Strong: Part 2

Appalachia has, for a long time, been topographically isolated. Roads, railways, everything bypasses this area, and it's not until recent times that there has been more connectivity with the internet and more reliable phone services. I think that that has... We've developed an ethos in the community of taking care of your own.

There's been literally generations of this area really feeling kind of forgotten by the rest of the country. Torrential downpours from Hurricane Lee have dumped up to 24 inches of rain in some areas, leading to unprecedented flooding across... The people here had no idea that they were going to suddenly be faced with this kind of flooding and this type of damage. The death toll has risen to at least 96 in North Carolina, with dozens more reported missing. Buncombe County has been... When I came through here, some of these buildings were just completely submerged.

This tiny little river. It was just an ocean. Major flooding has devastated areas like Biltmore Village and the River Arts District, leaving homes and businesses underwater. Roads and bridges have been washed away, isolating entire neighborhoods. Interstate 40 and US 74 remain impassable. Chimney Rock and the Asheville area, Lake Lure, a lot of these towns are completely washed away. It looks like a war zone. That is the only way I can describe it. I saw a washing machine in the top of a tree.

The building is gone. That building over there. When I videoed, it's gone. Search and rescue teams, including cadaver dogs, are combing through debris and floodwaters, searching for survivors and victims. Helicopter rescues continue for those trapped by rising waters.

One of my nurses in the emergency department went out to go try to help rescue a person in the flood waters. He took his boat out and ended up, the boat got overturned, and he ended up drowning in his attempt to save somebody.

Water was just rushing by here. Some of these buildings right along the side over here, they were just sandbagging, maybe two feet high or so, thinking the water was going to come there, and their buildings were basically just submerged. This entire area was just underwater. You couldn't see anything but just water rushing through. See, that is what is terrifying, too, is all this stuff when the water was rushing through, all this is just projectiles in the water. Right. Just destroying everything.

So, we quickly realized that there is going to be a need for this clinic here, but there's a lot of need in more remote areas for people that can't get down off the mountain. This is all flood damage, and it rose very high.

One of our team members went out and did kind of some scouting around. He got in contact with a group of people that are kind of stuck in a holler. The roads have been partially washed out, so they're mostly isolated. They may or may not need medical assistance. We are following their directions on how to get up there.

A lot of times, and what I've seen in these kind of disaster situations, is that there's a lot of misinformation or old information. You can sometimes do a lot of work that wasn't needed. I know just all the surrounding counties, like Yancey County, Mitchell County, were all just hit terribly. Like the Bullens Creek area, Pensacola, it's pretty much just... As we were riding in, we would go by, and there would be just a blank field, and she'd say, that's so-and-so's house, and so-and-so's house was there, and you would never even imagine there was ever a house there, because it looks like now the riverbed of the Grand Canyon.

The topography has changed. The river has made itself, like it'll never be the same shape, so where houses were, I don't see how houses will ever be back there. Because it's just, it's now part of the river. It's like Mother Nature's just taken it.

Mayor Fox just walked through here. Let me see if I can find him, because that's kind of his mission right now, is he doesn't want people to forget, because it's going to, I mean, these people are starting with just literally some of them, not even the clothes on their back.

We're a very tough community. We're used to working hard and building back. I've met people that lost their houses, and they're very appreciative that their life was spared. Water level was right here. They watched it from their porch. It was just under the top of the sign, so that kind of gives you an idea. How high the water was. I will drop you off at your truck, and you can follow me up, and I will get to where you turn on to Bowlings Creek.

I made my son get out. I said, Shooter, you sit in the ditch. I will be back, and I took that search and rescue crew on up. It is treacherous from there on up. This area was really hard hit. It will probably be the worst you see anywhere in the county.

It's personal up here. And this whole stretch right here, this entire stretch had a dozen homes, and they're all completely gone. A lot of these people up here probably are on family land. It just means for the next few years, they're going to rebuild. These people out here aren't going to move. They've been here. Their family's been here. We're not going anywhere either. What it means is they clean up, and they spend time doing it, and they watch out for each other.

But this is the worst one to happen, I guarantee you, in any of these people's lifetimes. Kyle told me this. He was out here talking to these neighbors right here, and they were getting in their van and getting pulled out, and that mudslide happened, and it split three ways, and the mudslide came down, and right in front of Kyle, it hit their van. You can still see the van is crushed right there. If you look, I don't know if you can see down there, but there's some, see those tires right there?

That's the van that he pulled them out of. The mudslide crushed the van. Kyle, I think it took him like an hour. Kyle got him out. They were in the van. Okay, the woman was totally okay. The guy had like a broken back. They medevaced him out. He was okay. He was doing well. This is the mudslide at Split coming down. When I was hiking out the same morning, I hit that mudslide, and it had to be eight feet deep. You couldn't even get around it.

I just cut through the fields and found Kyle. He was still pretty shaken up from getting them out. We know where we're going. It's just trying to get there has proven very difficult. We were able to get down to the river.

And then the road basically dead-ended into the river. There was a road that ran alongside the river, but that was almost completely washed out. If we had a small four-wheeler, we probably could have made it, but there was no way we were going to get up the road.

We have to go back around and try to get to that road, to that site, from the top side of the mountain. You're welcome. We've got a medical clinic in Asheville, and we're starting to reach out, to branch out to people that, when we get needs, to try to get out to them.

You guys need anything? She gave us a way around. Is that Elon Musk? Which way did she say to go? We met somebody that lives on that road. Her entire house was washed away. She was an older woman, used some of her savings to renovate her house, and it just got washed away, and the insurance company denied her claims, so she had nothing. So, that was actually really hard to hear.

Man, I've never seen anything like it. I went over and helped after Katrina, and there was nothing like this. I mean, I would definitely think that a lot of the people in the places around here did not have any flood insurance whatsoever, because you wouldn't expect those places to flood. It was just like dips in the road. It was just a dip in the road, and it would have seven feet of water in it.

This is the bougiest McDonald's ever. And there was a grand piano inside this place. Had a piano in the inside, and now it's destroyed, upended. So, this over here on the left was a Starbucks just two weeks ago.

Oh, my gosh. What, babe? You can see the level where the water was through here. Look at the windows. See the line on the windows? I mean, I am short, but that is like five feet over my head where the water line is. I mean, they are going to have to completely remove the tracks and bring in earth. It is going to take more than a few volunteers. Yeah, it is going to be a long, long time before this town is back close to anything normal.

take over me over every rushing memory if only for oh this could be my last chance all the paths all the roads that literally saved people's lives were built by locals first when it came down to There was immediate help saving lives in here and getting people prescriptions. We were running prescriptions in and out, doing all that. It was these local guys. There was like a 90-year-old guy down here, Nolan, built the road in Cattail with one other guy, and they just did it all day long.

No brakes, you know, they're not on the clock. Those guys are just, they just killed it, and they absolutely built that entire road in a day and a half, and I've never seen anything like it. On our Facebook or Instagram page, some guy made a comment about, oh, well, it's a liberal city, and I said, you know, I'm the most staunch, conservative, gun-toting southern country boy, and not once have I asked anybody who they were voting for. You know, nobody's asked me.

I've helped people, and they've helped me. Nobody cares about that. Everybody's just helping each other. I have seen political rivals out here and stuff just helping each other. It does not matter. Everyone took their political signs down. People running for local offices and things like that all pulled them out, and everyone in here just wants to see this place get back to working again and get people watching out for each other. When push comes to shove, it does not matter. It is somebody's life.

It is somebody's kids, somebody's daughter, somebody's aunt. That is the only thing that matters. Everybody is helping everybody, and that is what I have seen that is so inspiring here right now, is just the connection between people. That is America, though. That is what we do.

Back to the phones, and let us go over to Bill on line one. Bill, you are on the air with iHeartRadio Asheville. How are you doing, sir? I just want to sing Amazing Grace, lift everybody's spirits up just a little bit. You got it. Go right ahead. How sweet the sound that saved a...

His grace hath brought me safe thus far. Keith said that was one of the prettiest Fords around. He is not even a Ford man. When I got out, my refrigerator was sitting right here in the middle of the road. You will see it up there.

Oh, my grill and all my stuff is wrapped in the trees. My kitchen table was here on the left. That is my refrigerator. You got any ketchup left? I think I got some Asian sauces in there, if you are looking to make some stir fry.

Yeah, you can see the foundation's gone, and that's my house. How you doing, man? You guys need anything? I had my first shower yesterday. Brian needs a shower. Well, he can come up and shower. Sherry, this is Rebecca. Hi, Rebecca. She's been helping out a lot in Mitchell County and places. I got a lot of generators coming. Can you, if I get some people here, can you get them where they need to install? These communities come together when bad things happen.

Hello. Do you guys need any supplies or anything? Well, we will definitely have a group here on Saturday. And people were coming down the mountain, and we're expecting to provide service to them. And we rolled down the windows, and they say, hey, do you need a generator?

And they're looking for ways to help everybody. We stopped at multiple places today, and it's communities coming together in their devastation, in their loss, saying... Thank you for watching. What can I do for you when I just lost my house, when I lost my farm? We're setting up a clinic on Piney Hills Church. I love the fact that as we drive around, we don't see a whole lot of helping agencies, although they're around. What we see mostly are communities that are coming together.

Striving to love each other, striving to care for each other, and I just hope what we've seen from the people who are affected by this disaster shows forth kind of what's in store for the United States. If we ever face something similar on a larger scale, it should bring out the best of what. It means to be an American, remembering who we are as a people, a people founded on a faith in God and founded on our mandate from God to love each other well.

This is where I lived, still do live. I will be back here. Maybe sitting back there. Yeah, we are going to possibly be back here, but this is my house and barn here, and we had stayed in that back field. We stayed in the night in the truck that night and kind of watched it happen all morning, and the waters just came up and just kept coming up, coming up, coming up. Basically, you are looking at the river bed of where the creek expanded to, so when the water started coming down.

The creek, this is all creek, this was creek bed, and this road was built entirely by Nolan and Noah and the locals that came out here. They had all this work done before any help showed up. It was a cool sight to see everybody working together. They got us out. That is what has made this area.

So resilient, and so strong, that it is inspiring to be a part of, even in a little way, even in a small way, to be part of this effort to help this community that is already taking care of themselves. And there were others doing it. I know there were others doing it. We weren't the only ones. On Tootie's Creek. Yep. Every valley, every holler, as we say right here. It had its own people running supplies, going by prescription places, getting prescription drugs for people that needed them.

This is after you found me. This is after I found you. We hiked out, and I found him. And he was working with Jake to build the road over Bowling's Creek, and then mudslides were happening all over. I told him about the mudslide. We saw that area.

Me and Brian have been together ever since, I guess. That is all we have been doing, is running. We started out the first few days. I have no idea where this is going to go. I do not believe in serendipity. I believe in providence, and I believe that we were supposed to be there at that time, and we were tasked with this mission for a reason.

It may only last for a couple of weeks. I came into this not knowing what I was doing, and I really feel like... That is what faith is. It is taking that step, not even knowing where your foot is going to land, and seeing a light right before your foot hits the ground, and then you take that next step, and you see a light right before you hit the ground, hoping that you're not going to stumble, but you've already put your weight forward, and you can't take it back, and that is...

It's scary, but that is what faith really is, and it has been such an amazing experience to me to see people come together to help their neighbor, to help people that they don't even know, when there is nothing in it for them. And to me, that is what Christ's love is for us, and how could we not do that when you look at it with that perspective?